As you will see, my list is faulty because I don’t see half as many poetry and non-fiction titles as I should. Still, I sacrificed a lot of blood and sweat and tears to winnow these titles down. If you don’t see your favorite, rest assured that it was the very very last book I […]
Review of the Day: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
December 11, 2007 by
The Mysterious Benedict Society By Trenton Lee Stewart Illustrations by Carson Ellis Little Brown and Company $16.99 ISBN: 978-0316057776 Ages 8-13 On shelves now How do librarians decide what children’s book they want to read next? Well, there are professional reviews, online reviews, and good old-fashioned word of mouth. And when it came to “The […]
Review of the Day: The Bearskinner – A Tale of the Brothers Grimm by Laura Amy Schlitz
November 2, 2007 by
The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm By Laura Amy Schlitz Illustrated by Max Grafe Candlewick Press $16.99 ISBN: 9780763627300 Ages 7-12 One shelves now For the reviewer that reviews for pleasure, every book that sits on your lap has to prove itself to some extent. Even the world’s shortest picture book is an […]
Review of the Day: Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
October 15, 2007 by
Grumpy Bird By Jeremy Tankard Scholastic Press $12.99 ISBN 978-0439851473 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Grumpy Bird and me, we got off to a rough start. I first laid eye on the impossibly irritable fowl one day while traipsing about a local bookstore. There on an upper shelf sat, “Grumpy Bird”. He was grumpy. He […]
Review of the Day: I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos
October 10, 2007 by
I Am Not Joey Pigza By Jack Gantos Farrar, Straus & Giroux (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.00 ISBN: 978-0374399412 Ages 11 and up On shelves now A good author has the ability to piss off their fans. Pissing off fans is a delicate art, though. On the one hand, if you can emotionally engage your […]
Review of the Day: Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm
September 21, 2007 by
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf By Jennifer L. Holm Illustrated by Elicia Castaldi Comics by Matthew Holm Ginee Seo Books, (Simon & Schuster) $12.99 Ages 9 and up On shelves now I remember being 13 or so and talking with a much older cousin of mine. When he asked me what grade I was […]
Review of the Day: Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle by Pija Lindenbaum
September 18, 2007 by
Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle By Pija Lindenbaum Translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard R & S Books (distributed by Farrar, Straus and Giroux) $16.00 Ages 4 and up On shelves today There are so few good quality picture books with gay characters in them that, quite frankly, it’s a bit shocking. When people come […]
Review of the Day: Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson
September 6, 2007 by
Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson Random House $15.99 Ages 9 to 14 I am a traitor to my sex. I must be. All evidence clearly points in that direction. If 2007 is remembered as anything, for me it will be the year of Boy Books That I Adored While My Female Friends Slowly Shook Their […]
Review of the Day: The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
July 28, 2007 by
The Owl and the Pussycat By Edward Lear Illustrations by Stephane Jorisch Part of the Visions in Poetry Series. KCP Press (an imprint of Kids Can Press) I’ve no beef with Edward Lear, but I’ve no particular love of him either. Best known for his sweet nonsense poems, Lear often comes off as a slightly […]
Review of the Day: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
June 28, 2007 by
Elijah of Buxton By Christopher Paul Curtis Scholastic Books $16.99 For ages 10 and up. Before I begin I’d just like to make the note that this is a review from the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. My copy does not have the final text that will appear in the Author’s Note (a fact […]
Review of the Day: The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
June 20, 2007 by
The Lemonade War By Jacqueline Davies Houghton Mifflin $16.00 I am about to describe to you a true situation that I have experienced time and time again as a children’s librarian. A parent will walk up to me and ask for a work of fiction for kids dealing either with money or business. Money or […]
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